


175 - Vegas Wedding

by storiesaboutvan



Category: Catfish and the Bottlemen (Band)
Genre: F/M, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 06:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17401775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesaboutvan/pseuds/storiesaboutvan
Summary: Filling the prompt “a quickie cliche wedding with van? maybe they’re on tour in America and they’re in vegas and get a little drunk and decide to get hitched?”





	175 - Vegas Wedding

**Author's Note:**

> Van McCann is a lovesick puppy and wouldn’t even need alcohol to agree to marry someone in Vegas.

"Can I lick your tongue?” 

You rolled your head to look at Van. "What?"

"Can I-"

"Yeah, no, I heard you, but… what?" you repeated.

You were sitting at the makeshift kitchen table on the tour bus somewhere in Nevada. It was too hot to do much else than laze around.

"I'm so bored," Van whispered, grinning at you.

"And people think I'm the weird one," Bondy mumbled, misting himself with a spray bottle of water that had gone warm hours ago.

Van continued to look at you and you looked back. He was probably serious, so you stuck your tongue out. He leant across and licked it once. It felt weird but warm; intimate and stupid and kind of gross. You laughed and stuck your tongue out to let him do it again.

"Is it wrong if I like this?" you asked after the fourth lick. Bondy stood.

"No, Y/N, but it's wrong if I stay," and he was climbing the stairs to go try to sleep through the heat. Van laid his head on his arms on the table and smiled softly.

"I love you,"

"I love you too, but I'm gonna need you to keep doing this because it really does feel kind of good."

He laughed that crackling pop rock happy laugh and pulled you in for more disgusting and love-fuelled kisses.

…

You watched the lights of Vegas come into focus, then start to fly by in flashes of bright colours and seedy invitations. It was your first time being with the guys for a whole tour and everyone had bets on how long it would take you and Van to explode. It had been weeks and it hadn't happened. Having no choice but to coexist within such small spaces without the comfort of home, you'd found ways to not annoy each other. One of those was to spend time apart where possible.

After showers at the hotel, you tagged along with Bondy and Bob as they ventured out into the city before sound check. Vegas was such a human place. The people were what made it special, and you spent most of your time stopping to talk to strangers on the footpath. You'd wave goodbye to them as they laughed at your strange friendliness, and as Bondy would wrap an arm around you and pull you away.

Van was singing into the mic when you got to the venue. You walked across the stage and let him curl around you while he continued checks. 

"One, two, Y/N's here. Check, check, check," he growled out. Pausing to let tech adjust, Van grinned at you. "Good day?"

"Yeah. I love it here. I think you would too. We should go out after the show,"

"Maybe. Doesn't a proper bed sound good though? Just us?"

"You mean you don't prefer sleeping on a pile of pillows between me and Larry on the bus floor?"

Van laughed. Tech called for him to continue.

"Well, it's a marvellous night for a moondance, with the stars up above in your eyes," Van sang and held a hand out for you to take. You twirled under his arm and laughed as he sang Van Morrison for the rest of sound check.

…

Refusing to change into pyjamas, you watched the twinkling lights of the city from the hotel room window. Van showered, had some tea, and laid back on the bed ready for sleep.

"Please?"

"Nope," he said again.

You'd been trying to convince him to go out with you. The others had all gone to bed long ago, but your mind was restless and Vegas was calling your name.

"But you love people! Love meeting new people and stuff. There's so many interesting stories out there. Just one drink? We don’t even have to drink?! Just a walk down the strip and back,"

"Seems dangerous,"

"Van!" you said, exasperated. Jumping on the bed, you pushed at his arm until he gave you attention.

"Look, babe, not gonna leave this hotel room for nothin' 'cept maybe… a fire… if there's a fire, we can go out. Or if you'll marry me right now because I love ya cute little annoyed face you're doing right now. Other than that, that light's goin' off in ten minutes and you're gonna sleep, get me?"

You grinned. "Okay. I'll marry you. There's gotta be a million of them trashy wedding chapel places like in the movies," you said with a shrug. Van looked at you expressionless.

"You're jokin', right?"

"Were you?"

You stared at each other, waiting for the other to flinch. A game of chicken that you were both way too stubborn to lose. Van stood and got dressed while you watched. You pulled your shoes on as he put the hotel key card in his pocket.

"We have to take Larry," you said. Van cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy. "He has to be our witness. Also, I just wanna see what he says."

Van shrugged and followed you out into the hallway. You knocked on Larry's door but he didn't answer. You knocked louder, then called his phone. After a couple of minutes of banging, he opened up.

"What the fuck?"

"Get dressed. We're getting married," you said. Larry looked at you, to Van standing behind you. He ran his hands through his hair, confused and sleepy.

"Okay," he croaked and disappeared into the room to pull on jeans.

…

The sun would be up soon; the city lights meant the sky never got pitch black, but what darkness it held was slowly melting into orangey pinks. There were swirling desert clouds over the horizon too. For a moment you were distracted by the prettiness but Van pulled you along. It had been hours since leaving the hotel and you'd not made it to a chapel yet. As predicted, Vegas was home to wild and larger than life people. As much as Van loved talking to them, they loved listening to his and Larry's accents.

"Alright, Google says there's one just around the corner. Let's get this done then go get a bit of sleep before I have to get up," Van said, looking at the screen of his phone, using the bouncing wifi from nearby hotels and hotspots.

"Mate. You got a radio interview at 8. You'll get two hours if ya lucky," Larry laughed. Van shot you a look that was full of blame. A shrug in reply and you skipped off down the street.

Of course the chapel was still open and of course there was a queue even at that hour. You sat between Van and Larry and watched three couples confess their undying love. Maybe they would make it and not become another cliché Las Vegas wedding story. Maybe they'd be more like you and Van than the celebrities in the trashy magazines that sat in the waiting room.

When it was your turn, you stood in front of Van with his fingers tangled up in yours. His hair was a mess and you were sure your makeup had gone all patchy from being on for too long. He grinned at you with love that meant he'd never notice things like that. Following the instructions of the guy that was probably not a real celebrant (or maybe he was, stranger things were happening in Vegas that night), you commit yourself to Van and watched him do the same for you. The room of strangers clapped, as cued by Larry, and you took messy, happy photos before returning to the breaking dawn outside.

…

Under the too-crisp hotel sheets that made scratchy sounds as they moved, you watched Van settle in for his two hours of sleep. With his eyes closed, his lashes were at their visibly longest. You reached out and ran a finger down his nose. A small smile and you felt the butterflies in your stomach flutter awake again. You'd always love him.

"Don't think they were used to people getting married sober," you whispered. Van shrugged, then his eyes snapped open. He looked at you with an expression you couldn't read, then he snorted.

"Babe, you know that wasn't legal, right? Like, we're not legally married?"

Thinking about it for a second, you were pretty sure he was wrong. "Yes, it is. People do this all the time,"

"People go get a certificate thing in the day, then get fucked up and go to the chapel at night. You need the marriage certificate or it don't count," he replied. You thought about it more, still sure. Phone out and Google up, you read as Van laughed at you. "Sorry, babe, but we're gonna have to do this again if you actually want to marry me. Don't wake me when you see that I'm right," he said as he rolled over in the bed.

"Not right," you mumbled as you read through web pages that confirmed Van was (obviously) telling the truth. It made you sadder than it should have. Logically, it was probably a good thing. There were dozens of people that would be cut about not being invited to the wedding and you'd spent a great deal of time planning the perfect day in your head. Crazy Love would be the first dance. The ceremony would be in a park in Autumn. Also logical was the fact that Vegas wedding chapels couldn't legally wed people. Sanctity of marriage and all that heteronormative bullshit. Still, you could feel your nose tingle with potential for tears. Van noticed that you'd gone still and quiet. He turned back to you.

"Babe?" He sat up and pulled you into his chest. "Are ya sad 'cause you're wrong, or 'cause we ain't married?" You shrugged. Both. Never did well with being wrong. "Don't worry. We'll get married. And if ya wanna come back and do it at the same place, we'll do that. Whatever you want, okay?" You looked up at him. His voice was going to be rough for the interview and you both knew that. Yet, he was prioritising your small moment of sad over it. That alone was proof of love. You nodded and settled down to sleep cuddled into his side.

"I really do love it here,"

"Yeah, babe, I know."


End file.
